Darker Shades
by LadyFurora
Summary: New year. New lessons. New pupils. New teachers. New Harry?
1. The End is Nigh

October 31st 2001

A small light appeared briefly in the ruins of the astronomy tower before being extinguished leaving an orange glow against the dark sky. Wisps of smoke twirled majestically in the slight breeze. The glow moves to the edge of the astronomy tower and mysteriously drops into the abyss. The call of an owl stretches over the destroyed grounds as it circles predatorily before diving in to land on what appears to be nothing. Yet, upon closer inspection, one would find a copy of 'Hogwarts: A History' mimicking the state of its subject. The owl's eyes glow eerily as if they could peer into the very depth of your soul. No sound is heard, though a presence can be sensed. The owl's eyes fix upon the intruder to her domain. Suddenly, a shower of lightning bolts streaked across the sky. Leading a procession, as if to announce the intruder's arrival. Like the return of victorious warrior. The intruder glides silently to the edge and raises his right arm. As the intruder stared vacantly into the void; the owl flew to the intruder's arm and rejoined her master. Her master turns elegantly before noticing the destroyed book. Slowly, he reaches down and picks it up glancing at the cover before tossing it carelessly aside. Laughing maliciously as Death blazed within his eyes.

Shadows moved within the Forest. Feeling the unavoidable call of darkness, destruction and ultimately death. A dark presence surrounded the tower. The temperature dropped as 12 creatures appeared from deep within the forest. All twelve holding a dark, radiating aura with tints of colours indicating their specialism. Flares of these colours were shot into the air announcing their presence to one of their masters. Noticeably two colours were missing from the array.

Moments passed and a ruby glow began to descend upon the scarred face of the intruder. A pale hand reaches up towards his face, tilting it slightly upwards. Stepping forward into the intruder's welcoming embrace; their lips met in cold, calculated passion. A ferocious battle for dominance ensued as the kiss deepened. Neither willing to show weakness. Nor, surrender. For to surrender was to admit inferiority. And neither of these two could be called inferior...to anyone! Finally, the battle ended in an anti-climatic tie. Their eyes met. And the colours of Death and Blood collided, promising pain and suffering to all.


	2. Back to Hogwarts

September 5th 1994

There was a definite end-of the-holidays gloom in the air when Harry awoke. Heavy rain was splattering against the window as he got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express.

Mrs Weasley had braved the telephone in the village Post Office to order three ordinary Muggle taxis to take them into London.

"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us," Mrs Weasley whispered to Harry as they stood in the rain-washed yard, watching the taxi drivers heaving heavy Hogwarts trunks into their cars. "But there weren't any to spare ... oh dear, they don't look very happy, do they?"

Harry didn't like to tell Mrs Weasley that Muggle taxi drivers rarely transported over-excited owls and Pidwidgeon was making an ear splitting racket. Of course, the reason why Harry didn't tell may have been connected to the fact that he was trying his utmost not to laugh at her stupidity.

The journey was uncomfortable, owing to the fact that they were jammed in the back of the taxis with their trunk. They were very relieved to get out at King's Cross, even though the rain was coming down harder than ever, and they got soaked carrying their trunks across the busy road. Harry was the most relieved as he was no longer cramped up with Ron and Hermione and vowed to get away as soon as possible.

Harry was used to getting on Platform nine and three quarters by now. It was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid barrier separating platforms nine and ten. The only tricky part was doing this in an obtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention. Harry slipped silently through the barrier and waited impatiently for the Weasley clan to come through. It seemed like Pidwidgeon had become restless and had attracted a lot of muggle attention and therefore they had to wait before coming through. 'Stupid owl!' Harry thought. 'It's a wonder it's still alive.'

Finally Harry, Ron and Hermione began to make their way to a compartment further along the train. And at the first opportunity, Harry darted a way from the other members of the "Golden Trio," to prepare himself for the show Dumbledore was to star in after the announcement of what would be happening at Hogwarts. Slipping into an empty compartment, Harry hastily threw off the polluted 'rags' of Dudley's and proceeded to change into black, dragonhide trousers (of the finest quality, of course), a black, plain t-shirt with a dark forest green shirt over the top. All in all, Harry looked hot but most of all he was looking the part he was to play.

The compartment door slid open revealing one Draco Malfoy.

"Well, well, wickle Potter thought he could play with the bad boys by updating his image. Ha!" Draco sneered. "At least those atrocities, you called clothes have gone. You never know if you were Pureblood, I might have dared to be seen with you."

Looking around Draco finally noticed the absence of two thirds of the trio. "You been dumped, Potter, eh? By a mud blood, you must be so ashamed. I don't even know how you dare to show your face. I would simple die from embarrassment or disinfectant from scrubbing away its presence."

"Shut it, Malfoy! You know nothing!" Harry whispered in an emotionless tone. His face revealing nothing about what he was thinking or planning. To anyone but a Malfoy of course, it would have possibly been unnerving.

A look of respect flicked across the face of Draco Malfoy before being replaced by the cold, emotionless mask; one of the Malfoy trademarks.

"Seems like you've grown up, so what is with your new look or should I say attitude?" Malfoy remarked whilst he thought about what could possibly have brought on such a drastic change in Dumbledore's 'Golden Boy.'

"Wait and see, Malfoy, wait and see," Harry replied. "Just remember that a sense of false security can be devastating but also incredibly useful."

Before Malfoy could reply to Harry's cryptic response, Harry strode out the compartment with all the poise and an air of grace and elegance which could only be described as a highly, distinguished member of the Pureblood elite. Leaving Malfoy to ponder on this new development and vow to get to the bottom of it before sitting down to construct a letter to his father informing him of the events. 'It's definitely going to be interesting this year' Draco thought to himself.


	3. A Sorting to remember

Arriving at Hogwarts, Draco set out among the masses in search of the new, mysterious Potter on whom his mind had been focused for the remainder of the journey. Finally finding him, holding back beyond the crowd with a look of disdain on his face which even his godfather, Severus would be proud of, at the general activity of the student body. Hanging back from Potter, He saw a scene that no Slytherin or the entire school thought would happen. Potter pushed the mudblood away from himself and striding off, leaving the Weasel spewing a string of vitriol comments his way.

Setting off to the Great Hall, Draco decided that instead of his usual weasel-baiting, he would observe Potter like only a true Slytherin knows how. Settling down, Draco glanced over to the Gryffindor table realising, almost immediately, the absence of Potter and wondered how his little "riddle" had already disappeared from him.

During his wonderings, the first year sorting concluded and just as Dumbledore was about to announce the new Defence against the Dark Arts professor, a swirl of black mist swept under the doors of the Great Hall and drifted over the tables of the four houses leaving them all in a state of darkness and despair. The black mist began to settle next to Dumbledore on the stage. As the teachers all scrambled with their wands, the mist disappeared to reveal Harry Potter dressed as he was on the Train. Whispers roamed throughout the room. And Dumbledore looked surprised if not slightly scared of what was happening.

"Dumbledore, McGonagall, Good day to you both!" Harry said whilst smirking at the look of the teachers faces. "Sorting Hat as requested and desired I have returned to be resorted in my rightful house." Placing the hat on his head, Harry spoke quietly with the hat before..

"Student of Hogwarts, Mr Potter has allowed me to broadcast our little discussion for your…benefit!"

"Mr Potter….well yes….I know it is not time for them to know that yet but the time shall come soon as you know full well. But yes, this house will definitely be better suited to your personality and talents if they accept you. And as your little display of your power as enough to have most of the students terrified, it should take them too long!"

"Sorting Hat, I know it's your thing to go and round the castle and through the dungeon door! Before reaching the conclusion but many of the students and teachers look confused!! Shall we _enlighten_ them???" Harry said, as students and teachers alike were basked in a glow of pure white.

"Showy!!! I must admit. Therefore I'll come to a close and finally welcome Mr Harry Potter to the Slytherin house!!!" At that announcement, many thuds were heard around the hall as students fainted. Severus Snape was already wishing that he'd been Avada Kedavra'd at the last death eater meeting and Draco, well Draco was waiting with an outstretched hand for the newest Slytherin. Ron and Hermione looked on, eyes fixed upon the figure of Harry gliding towards Draco wondering if he would take his hand.

As Harry grasped Draco's hand, a cry of "Slytherin Scum!!" rang out from the Gryffindor table as Hermione struggled to hold back a fuming Weasley. "You should have been there from the start Potter!!" rang. As one, members of both Slytherin and Gryffindor prepared for an all out duel, Slytherin, ready to defend their house and apparently their new member as far the other houses could tell and Gryffindor, in an attempt to distance themselves from their ex-housemate.


	4. Slytherin and Dark Arts

It doesn't take much really to make a friend. A quick hello in the hallway. An offer of help when someone sighs in annoyance. But the old Harry would have been totally unprepared for the amount of defence he would receive from the Snakes whom he had fought against since his first year. Although admittedly all the fights had been started by them, it didn't really matter. He'd managed to avoid the struggle by striding out of the staff entrance with Draco by his side who he guessed was trying to work out what had changed in him. Really Malfoy was so predictable.

"I'll explain in the dorms, Draco, don't strain your brain as you won't figure it out!"

Arriving at the entrance of Slytherin, Draco only just realised that he didn't have the new password and was about to say so when Harry began.

"_Oh mighty Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four let me and my companion enter your domain!"_

"_Oh and who might you be? Presumptuous little twerp."_

"_You only see me as I appear, you do not know what I hide or who I am but for my purpose here this is who I must be."_

"_Fair enough, come talk to me and I'll discover your plans"_

The door swung open revealing a double room cloaked in darkness. A quick Lumos and Draco saw that the beds were draped in silk sheets and the mahogany wardrobes and desks almost seemed to blend into the Slytherin green walls. On the far side of the room, however, was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. Reams and Reams of books, more than what could be found in Hogwarts Library and Malfoy library put together and not only that but half of them were books of dubious content. A glance at Potter showed that he was not only aware of the books presence but was at this very moment glancing down in the pages of one book.

"Well, never thought you would be one into the dark arts, Potter."

"Too bad then, Draco that this is actually the potions diary of one Salazar Slytherin," Potter replied with a smirk. "Though that book you keep glancing at is rather interesting to read and try out!"

Draco just looked at Potter shocked before grabbing the book and beginning to read, all the while preparing a letter to his father in his mind.


	5. Dragon Catcher

Draco was equally confused the next morning when he awoke and found that Harry's bed was empty. There was no sign of him left in the dorm and yet his firebolt and school materials were still stacked in the corner neatly. Now, of course being a Slytherin, Draco couldn't resist being sneaky (nosey!) and looking into Harry's stuff looking for some sort of clue of what had changed. However, despite the events of the day before, he assumed that Harry still trusted enough to not place some sort of booby trap or locking spell upon his possessions. Therefore, Draco was greatly surprised moments later to find himself stuck to ceiling watching his wand being swallowed up by the chest as it was a gourmet meal such as caviar. A show of Draco's pompous nature if there ever was one as most wands taste the same except for maybe a different aftertaste depending upon the core, though no one would advise trying a wand with a basilisk core.

Moments later, a smug looking Harry walks in. Wearing skin tight dragon hide trousers and jade shirt, Draco couldn't help but think about the competition he would undoubtedly have for the girls this year. The view would have undoubtedly raised questions about any male's sexuality, well except maybe Dumbledore and the Dark Lord.

"Well, well, I've caught myself a little dragon. Hmmm…what should I do with him? I could use him for target practise or spell practice. There a couple of dark spells; I haven't had to chance to try out yet due to the need of a human target. I assume that the spell which rearranges your body organs in extremely painful. Would you like to find out, my dragon?"

"POTTER!!! Let me down, I demand that you let me down this instant!"

"My Dragon, you wouldn't want to spoil my fun would you? This little party for two. I'm sure we could get up to some wicked things if we worked together, don't you think? As I see it, I have something you want to know and you have something I want, therefore I will let you down on two conditions. One, that you will not take revenge in anyway upon my person and two that after curfew we exchange our knowledge. Deal?"

"Fine, just let me down." Draco sighed.

With a wave of his hand, Draco fell to the floor in what probably could be considered the most undignified way to fall in existence but then again he hadn't seen Harry come out of the floo connection before the gaining of his grace. Trying to regain said dignity, Malfoy rose and collected his stuff before casually checking his appearance and strode out of the dorm as if nothing had ever happened and he was still in charge.


	6. Potions Mix Up

Just as Draco reached the Great Hall, the owls swooped in carrying the post and Lucius' majestic black eagle, Thor made his way towards Draco carrying a package which he knew to be off his mother and a letter from his father according to the seal

Just as Draco reached the Great Hall, the owls swooped in carrying the post and Lucius' majestic black eagle, Thor made his way towards Draco carrying a package which he knew to be off his mother and a letter from his father according to the seal. Pocketing the letter for his inspection later in privacy, he proceeded to walk towards the Slytherin table and sit down only to be joined by Potter moments later. Potter acted as nothing had happened this morning. That was good it wouldn't be done for the rest of Slytherin to know that he, the "Prince" had been captured by a former Gryffindor. Though even now, Draco doubted that Harry was ever a Gryffindor in nature. Only double potions and transfiguration it seemed today. At least that put a smile on the Blonde's face as potions was his favourite subject with his Godfather.

"Hmmm, I wonder what Potions will be like on the Slytherin side of the room." Harry pondered.

"Normally, it would be acceptable and expected for you to inaccurately make your potion; however you are still the 'Golden Boy', 'The Boy Who Lived' so anything is possible. And that if anything is going to make this lesson even more enjoyable than usual," Draco replied in one of his trademark drawls finishing with the famous smirk.

Walking to the Potions classroom Harry, even with his 'new attitude' could not help but feel slightly nervous about class with Snape. He may be his Head of House now but that still doesn't mean that Snape will be ale to see past James Potter when he looks at Harry. Finally, reaching the corridor which holds the potion classroom, Harry is slightly surprised (though he doesn't show it) to see the Gryffindors and Slytherins looking at him from both sides of the corridor without a wand drawn in sight.

The potions door slams open. "Get in here now!" Snape snaps as he ushers the Slytherin students inside the classroom but just as the Gryffindors go to follow, Snape stands in front of the door. "You lot are five minutes late therefore you will find that as there are 10 of you that equals fifty points from Gryffindor." Cries of outrage emerged before they suddenly went silent at the calculating look on their Professor's face. "Hurry up and get in! You have what is left of the two hours to begin to produce the Felix Felicis potion and not one of you will be allowed to remove your potion from this room. We wouldn't want any Gryffindors roaming around with unusual side effects now would we?" The entire Slytherin side begin to quietly laugh so as to escape notice.

The class set off in a flurry of activity as students not wanting to anger their professor more went to collect their ingredients and set up their equipment before starting to follow the instructions on the board. Harry however before setting off to get his ingredients put his hand up slowly gaining not only the attention of Professor Snape but also the rest of the class. "What is it, Potter?"

"Sir, those are the instructions to the Draught of the Living Death due to the sopophorous beans being used to help induce sleep."

"Well Class, seems our celebrity here is correct" as Snape glances at the board. "Therefore you will all be required to start again and complete an essay three feet long on why you should always look at the board carefully before assuming that something is correct. Mr Potter, stay after class. Oh and detention tonight with me at Seven o'clock. Do not be late."

"But Sir…"

"Potter, no arguments now get to work!"

Harry looked down glumly at his work station before trundling off to go get the ingredients needed to the actual potion required. Stupid Snape, even as a Slytherin I seem to rub him up the wrong way……maybe it has something to do with past lives and that stuff Salazar was whispering about last night when he thought I was asleep to the other portraits. Harry thought. The class continued without distraction well except for a few minor explosions from the Gryffindor side of the room courtesy of the Slytherin students and a few extra ingredients. Soon enough, the students were lining up in front of Snape's desk to hand in their sample of work before cleaning up their workstation and storing the rest of the potion ready for the next lesson.

"You are dismissed and any of you trying to smuggle your potion out I remind you that neither myself nor Madam Pomfrey will be removing any unwanted side effects from a badly made potion."

The students began to pour out the classroom like a potion being poured into a flask leaving Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy sitting waiting at the desk. Professor Snape looked curiously at his godson's attendance; swiftly asking him why he had remained and that if he had a problem he could come back and see him at lunch. Draco dejectedly left the room with his hopes of finding something new about the enigma that is Harry Potter being squashed.

"Mr Potter, well I must say that I was surprised to find that you should have belonged to the house of Snakes from the beginning of your time here at Hogwarts. As far as I have seen you possess none of the qualities associated with the students here. Therefore, explain why you have suddenly been deemed worthy of my house?" Snape drawled as he closed in upon his victim.

"Well, Sir.." Harry smirked. "…whose more Slytherin than a Snake in Lion's Clothing. Who can be a Gryffindor yet be a Slytherin at the same time? Who can be what people want yet not lose their original goals and get them without people knowing?"

"POTTER, you will give me a straight answer. And I mean now!" Snape snarled.

"Sir, just think about it. I am sure a Slytherin such as yourself should be able to work it out." Harry stated before leaving the Potions classroom and Snape to his contemplating.

Severus Snape was never one to back down from a challenge and would never think about the possibility of giving up especially when it came to the bane of his existence. Therefore leaving the potions classroom; as he had a free period next, went to sit in his living quarters and ponder this "riddle" posed. It wasn't the first two questions which had him stumped they were quite simple with Potter stating that he has always been a Snake but has hidden it under a mask which the public would expect of their saviour. No, the question was what were Potter's goals, what he was achieved and what he hoped to achieve?


End file.
